ICM 1/35
US Elite Forces in Afghanistan

Usually, when I attend an IPMS contest, I buy raffle tickets. 90% of the time I win something or other in these. At a recent contest I bought 6 tickets and won 5 times.

This was phenomenal, to say the LEAST! However, sometimes it is good news and sometimes it is bad. By this, I mean that I don’t always win an item that interests me too greatly.

One of the 5 things that I won in the raffle this time was a kit of modern military figures.

Now, most people that know me know that my preference is WWII armor and aircraft, with a few WWI tanks and some submarines thrown in for good measure. I am not wild about modern stuff.

So, what’s in the kit?

This kit comes in an end-opening type of box. The box art shows 4 US Special Forces figures amidst the rubble of a building. What strikes me as odd about this scene is that two of the figures are crouching and look like they are in eminent peril from enemy attack, while the remaining two figures are just casually standing there…hmmmmm. One of the figures is done as an African American and another guy is wearing sun glasses (which are not included in the kit for him, by the way). The back of the box is the painting and assembly guide drawings. Two types of camouflage, for their uniforms, is shown: woodland type and desert type.

Inside the box is a single tree of 50 parts, molded in light gray styrene. This tree is cello-bagged. There are 4 figures on the tree. They are divided into separate heads, torsos, arms, legs and Kevlar helmets. Three M-16 rifles and one M-60 machine gun are provided for weapons. There are 2 canteens provided for each of the 4 figures (these guys must really be thirsty!). These canteens have some nasty sink marks in them, on both sides. The other noticeable thing about the molding of the parts is the fact that all the faces are virtual CLONES of each other, with no change in expressions or features that I can detect. There are ammo pouches, in two sizes, provided for each figure. In 3 cases it is 3 pouches and on the remaining figure only 2.

Although the box art shows straps on the rifles and helmets, these are not provided in the kit and you will have to fabricate them from paper or tape. There is also the letters ‘’US” shown on the canteens and a sergeants set of stripes on one figure’s helmet shown on the box art. However, there are no decals in the kit.

There is a printed sheet in the kit that lists the colors associated with the alphabet letters on the painting guide on the back of the box. The parts tree has no numbers molded next to each part, like we have come to expect in most model kits. The printed sheet has a drawing of the parts tree with the numbers shown there. So, you will have to keep referring to it as you assemble the figures.

As mentioned earlier, two of the figures are kneeling and two are standing. All have their pants bloused into their boots. The molding is crisp and well detailed on the uniforms and weapons. My only gripe is the CLONE faces on these guys and the sink marks in the canteens. Recommended to modelers who do modern military figures otherwise.